Skip to main content

Book Review: Tanakpur: Reminiscence of a Soldier by Dr. Capt. J. Prasad

There is something charming about memoirs and biographies based on army or a soldier’s life. I am always fascinated by the diversity and the adventure that runs in the backdrop like banter. No matter what the protagonists do or where they go, action and diversity never leaves them. So, I had all the reasons to pick up this book by Dr. Capt. J. Prasad.

It’s a story of a young man, especially covering the timeline when he served the Indian army from 1963 to 1969. The narrator was from Bihar. He joined the Armed Medical Force, as a medical officer from Lucknow. So as you get into the book, you will get to know the insights from his personal lives, his family members, his marriage story and more.

The narrator was a medical student, he wanted to pursue a higher degree in the USA; however that time due to war with China there was shortage of medical staff in the army. Hence, owing to his great love for nation and motherland, he joined the army. His first posting was in Tanakpur, he worked mainly in the mountainous Himalayan region of Pithoragarh and Dharchula. Thus, he kept the title as Tanakpur.

This novel enthralled me most as I like stories built around the Indian army. This is a memoir cum autobiography of a soldier. In fact, the author Dr. Captain J. Prasad narrates his own story of the tenure that he had spent in the Indian army as a medical officer. His journey starts from Tanakpur and stretches between various parts of the country.

The narrative timeline is mainly of 1960s, it covered events of war with China and Pakistan. I liked his passion for the country, but in between he also shuffled to have his own career aspirations, as he wanted to go to the USA and London in 1969 for some education. He could have been satisfied with a career in the Indian Army; however, he was way ambitious.

The narrative puts a sense of surrealism and full of information of that time. I loved the coverage of the mountains like Dharchula, and other parts like North East. In the book, there is more about the army life and his personal scuffles with some of his fellow officers. But life is a balanced palette of bitter sweet memories.

 Indeed…a lovely book to look back into that glorious time when India was struggling in all aspects and people like Capt. J Prasad contributed most in all capability. The writing style is lucid. It is a good book that throws reminiscence of a soldier and by writing this he paid gratitude to the Indian Army. He was in the army for a shorter duration but he did a valuable job as a medical officer wherever he was posted.

Without giving up much, I would urge you to get into the book for more coverage on a great soldier’s life.

Buy the book from Amazon.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Poem Summary: Where The Mind Is Without Fear by Rabindranath Tagore

Poem by Rabindranath Tagore: Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high Where knowledge is free Where the world has not been broken up into fragments By narrow domestic walls Where words come out from the depth of truth Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit Where the mind is led forward by thee Into ever-widening thought and action Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake. Short Summary: This poem is written by Rabindranath Tagore during pre-independence days, when India was a colony of the British. The underlying theme of the poem is absolute freedom; the poet wants the citizens of his country to be living in a free state. According to the poem, we see that the poet is expressing his views there should be a country, like where people live without any sort of fear and with pure dignity…they should
67 comments
Read more

Book Review: The Blue Umbrella by Ruskin Bond

Among all Ruskin Bond books, The Blue Umbrella has, so far, gathered immense applaud from readers and critics alike.  This is a short novel, but the kind of moral lessons it teaches to us are simply overwhelming. This is a story of Binya, a poor little girl living with her mother and an elder brother, Bijju, in a small hilly village of Garhwal. One day while herding her two cows back home, she stumbles upon some city people enjoying the picnic in the valley. She is enthralled to see them well-groomed and rich. She craves to be one like them and among many other things of their, a blue frilly umbrella catches her attention. She begins craving for it. On the other hand, the city people get attracted by her innocent beauty and the pendant in her neck. The pendant consists of leopard’s claw – which is considered a mascot widely in the hills. Binya trades her pendant off with the blue umbrella. The blue umbrella is so much beautiful that soon it becomes a topic of conversation fo
63 comments
Read more

Poem Summary: Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Ozymandias is a short poem of fourteen lines written by Percy Bysshe Shelley. The concurrent theme of the poem is that nothing remains intact and same forever in this world. Even the brightest of metal, one day decays with passage of time. The throne name of Egyptian King Ramesses is Ozymandias. It was his dearest desire to preserve himself forever by building a huge statue that he thought would never tumble down. Stanza 1: I met a traveller from an antique land Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed; Summary: The poet narrates the poem through the eyes of a traveler who seems to have come back from a remote and far-away land, referring to Egypt. The traveler r
23 comments
Read more